Big Bad Badger

The Mapplication™ Thread
Apply within to join the world of Esferos, home of TWP Roleplay

Current map version 1.18, updated 1 April 2024
Esferos Topographic Map | Biome Map | Tectonic Map | Wind & Sea Map
Joining and staying on the map
In order to join the map, you must follow these steps:
Join and introduce yourself on the main TWP Discord server and the TWP Roleplay Discord server Read the Guide to TWP Roleplay & Esferos Lore Introduction Apply to become a member of the Hall of Nations Submit your Mapplication™ to this thread once you have applied. See below for Mapplication™ instructions. The map is updated on the 15th of every month—to stay on it you must remain active, which requires you to:
Maintain your Hall of Nations membership—this includes making at least one post (new thread or reply) per month anywhere on the forums Engage in the Roleplay Discord at least once every three months Becoming inactive or leaving the region immediately forfeits your place on the map and in the canon unless you first talk with the Cartography Board. Inactive nations with significant contribution to the canon may become NPCs controlled by the Loremasters instead of being removed entirely.
How to submit your Mapplication™
Mapplications™ must be submitted as a reply to this thread. Below, you will find the Mapplication™ form to paste into a reply and fill out.
Submitting your Mapplication™ will begin a process where statistics and realism will be discussed with the Cartography Board. It is important to note that this process is not a negotiation—the community standards for realism will be met, but we encourage you to meet them creatively. If you have questions about specifics, or do not fit in a particular answer category, read the background material and explain where you may land on each of the Indices. Joining the TWP Roleplay Discord server is heavily encouraged for more involved help in this process.
The name that appears on the map for your nation must be reasonably realistic—if the name you choose does not meet the canon standards, you will be notified by a member of the Cartography Board. Your map nation's name does not need to match your resident nation's name.
You may request a premade area (outlined on the map in grey) or draw an area of your own. For continents that have numbered plots thus far, you may not draw your own plot. Pre-made plots are only combined in extreme circumstances. If you draw your own, please take a screenshot of the map and mark the territory you would like to request, like the example image provided in this section. Major cities and other features are also welcome, though we need exact city populations to place them on the map (this may be done later by submitting populations to the #cities channel on our Discord server). Please review the Esferos Topographic Map and Biome Map (linked above) to inform your nation's placement, as geographic features and environments will not be changed to suit your desires after placement. Bear in mind that if you decide to request an unreasonably large area, it will be pared down.
The map is updated on the 15th of every month, and hotfixes are released to include new applicants at the end of each week.
Mapplication™ format
Copy and paste this form into your reply and fill it out. You can find a completed example below the Mapplication™.
 
Resident nation: 
Discord name:
Map nation name:
A couple sentences about your nation: (original content, not NationStates stats)
 
 
Map request as an image or plot number: (forum embed or Imgur link)
 
3-Letter Code:                                  2-Letter Code:
Capital City:
Government Type:
The population of my nation is:  Below average / Average / Above average
The population density of my nation is:  Below average / Average / Above average
The GDP per capita of my nation is:  Below average / Average / Above average
  Government Spending - Which statement best describes your nation?
  My nation provides moderate social programs, or a small selection of social programs. 
  My nation has an extensive social safety net, or provides multiple programs like universal healthcare, welfare, and free tuition for its citizens 
 
My nation does not provide social programs beyond bare necessities and/or high school educations. 
  My nation does not prioritize social spending, but engages in some large-scale government or public spending projects. 
  My nation’s government spending is a vast majority of our GDP, such as having to coordinate our import-dependent economy.
(this option is subject to Cartography Board approval)
  Military Indicator - Which statement best describes your nation?
  My nation has made a commitment to security, and maintains a moderately sized modern armed forces within our means. 
 
My nation has little incentive or political drive for military spending, but maintains a small-to-moderate modern armed forces. 
  My nation has prioritized military spending at the expense of other key areas and may have been criticized for lack of freedom or human rights issues. 
  My nation does not prioritize military spending due to other priorities, the belief we are safe, or we don’t have enough money left over to fund it. 
  My nation is heavily embattled and we believe we face an existential threat.
(this option is subject to Cartography Board approval) 
  Any other inspirations or concepts you want to share: 
 
 
 
 
Mapplication™ example:
 
 Previous map versions:
 
Join the Regional RP Discord server for additional help. Do not debate the merits of claims here.
 

Done! Enjoy the day!

And never forget The Klingon Empire of The West Pacific!
 

 
And TWP is Legendary:
 

 
 

One of the reasons TWPAF benefited from its pirate theme was because that theme is well suited to West Pacifican culture. I'm all for a rebranding of TWP, as I've made plenty clear before, but making something it other than TWP doesn't make any sense. There's no reason we should be taking things from RL cultures that aren't ours when we have a perfectly good one right here in TWP. The theme should reflect TWP, not the other way around.
One can say that a new theme won't affect our culture, except it undoubtedly will. If done correctly, all mentions of TWP in government, documentation, and conversation would include the new language, and of the active members it will please some, do nothing to others, and irritate others. New nations will feel its influence even more strongly, as they wouldn't know anything else. Not to mention, if a theme either doesn't change or doesn't reflect the culture, then what's the point? People could just ignore it and all of this effort and discussion would be for naught.
To that extent, I'm not in favor of any of the themes presented, and I think we have a lot more to gain from expanding TWPAF's pirate theme for the rest of the region. It's unique, easy to understand, and meshes well with TWP's culture. On the whole I prefer when things are discussed as a region and not presented to us after closed door discussions.
Were I forced to choose from the three, however, Kawaii's Shogunate Japan theme seemed the best. Being open ended and more in favor of a reskin as opposed to something larger makes it easier to adapt to our needs. Plus it includes the only flag of the bunch that was interesting to me.
Overall, a TWP theme is the best theme.

And I have masked them both on Discord.

And I have masked them both on Discord.

I really liked the simplicity and TWPness of your design, so I had it in the back of my head as I was working on it. I tend to go overboard with detail so that helped tone it down a little.
Oh I remember those! Were you the one who made that FA logo? It looks really nice.

Done

Pours Peppermint Schnapps in with the hot chocolate.....sips
 
Done!

Pours Peppermint Schnapps in with the hot chocolate.....sips
 
Done!

Done!

Done!

I’m going to keep my statement fairly short…
 
Being Delegate of The West Pacific is an honor and a privilege. When Dave came to me to be Delegate, I was thrilled. I was looking forward to being able to do all the things and work toward keeping the region amazing.
Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to live up to my own expectations. The region deserves someone who can be consistently active and around. Due to RL things, I have not been able to give The West Pacific the time or energy it deserves to have from its delegate. I tried and kept telling myself that as soon as this thing or the other sorted out, that it’d be fine, but that hasn’t happened, and I can’t in good faith continue. I’ll be able to be around still, I’m not retiring or anything, just taking a step back.
Thankfully, The West Pacific is full of wonderful people. So, even though I must step away from the Delegacy, there is someone else ready, willing, and more than able to take on the role.
It is my great pleasure to announce that @Saint Mark will be the next delegate of The West Pacific. I am confident that he will do an amazing job. His passion for The West Pacific shows in everything he does, and his natural energy will give the region the boost it has been needing.
Please, join me in welcoming and congratulating Halo! <3

We are so sorry to lose you Neenee but, like many others who have risen to position of trying to make NS and TWP a better place to become involved in, RL often takes its toll.  We thank you for your tremendous service during your delegacy... it has been wonderful to have an 'old hand' at the helm and you have done much in your short time in office. 
Hail the Glitter Queen Neenee!
I have known Halo since the start of his NS 'career' and it has been great to see him go from strength to strength in his player development and, like you, have full faith in his ability to do the region justice. 
Hail Halo!

Greetings to my fellow TWP citizens, our allies and friends and the regions and nations of NS.
    I am honored that Neenee has chosen me to succeed her as Delegate of TWP. She, Badger and Davelands have been my mentors and best friends ever since I joined. I have always had their support and am grateful for their promise of continued support in my new role. While I am excited for this opportunity to lead my native region, I am also humbled by the thought of trying to build upon the accomplishments of the legendary Delegates that have preceded me. If Neenee hadn’t been couped by rl, her tenure in TWP would have been magnificent.
    While not completely without experience, I know that I am an infant compared to many of my peers here. The Holy Principality of Saint Mark was “born” in TWP a mere two and a half years ago. TWP has been my primary region, my home, ever since. During this time, I have represented TWP as an ambassador to several of our allies and was the principle author of The Etiquette of The Hall of Nations while I served as the first Speaker of The Hall. I was Minister of Foreign Affairs and am currently a Guardian and Minister for Recruiting and Citizenship.
   Maybe because of my early focus as an ambassador, I have been a bit of a cosmopolitan. Even though this may have competed with my TWP duties at times (sorry Badger ), it allowed me to make many friends throughout NS. I serve or have served as a Priest of Osiris, an Arbiter of TEP, Pyo Sage of Karma, a regional officer of The Sasquatch Republic and Archbishop of Albion.
    TWP is a friendly, active, snarky GCR that believes in the supremacy of the Delegate and awards merit. Neenee is our glittery goddess, all of our chocolate belongs to Dark and a pirate shanty stirs our blood. I have always found TWP to be a good fit for me. I consider myself friendly and imaginative … my snark could use work.
    NS is a game and games are meant to be entertainment. It is most important then that TWP be fun! I pledge to do my best to always make it so. I also pledge to do my best to make TWP a safe place to play. There are many minors among us and it is our responsibility to protect them. Even adults, though, deserve to be treated with respect. Bullying and intolerance will never be acceptable in TWP. Toxicity is why I rarely hang out in GP (although I guess I’ll be around a lot more now … maybe I can help set a gentler tone? ). I see no point in digging up old grudges or launching the same old personal attacks. I will always try to conduct myself with civility and kindness, and will expect the same behavior from the people of TWP. Finally, it is my opinion that, as a feeder, TWP should strive to educate the new players about the world they have entered. To that end, I will also try to improve the educational opportunities in our region.
  I have a lot of ideas that will help us achieve these goals, but TWP isn’t just the Delegate.  A very strong central government, be it an absolute delegacy or an oligarchy, can lead to stagnation. That is why it is crucial to award innovation and hard work. The region will flourish only if it enjoys the creativity, support and efforts of its residents. TWP has terrific people. I am honored to have been chosen to serve as its Delegate and look forward to working with my fellow citizens to realize our region’s full potential.
    Long Live Neenee! Long Live The West Pacific!   

Do you like Da Bearsss?

Atlae, you are a good player and we are better region because of your contributions!  
Come back when you get a chance!

Hail o/ Hope you'll come back and visit sometime

Take care <3

. 

Hey you guys! Sending some love out today! <3 I was talking to someone earlier today about a silly tag that we did with TWPAF back when Kawaii was Commander and I was just a First Commander in revenge on The Bee Movie! It brought back a lot of fun memories in TWP, so I wanted to share some of my favorite TWP times with you guys.  
 
The Spanish Inquisition - I've been on a ton of raids during my time on NS, but the most fun that I ever had with one was when Khanter helped us plan a big raid on Spanish-speaking regions. Like, ALL of the Spanish-speaking regions! We had just kicked off our pirate theme, so we needed to do something big and fun to really cement that direction, and between my Pirate Code, Ban's excellent Graphics, and Khanter's excitement to help with that raid, this put us in the perfect position to really sell it! I spent days hyping everyone up about a secret raid that we'd have coming up and screaming "¡SOMOS PIRATAS!" to anyone who would listen, Khanter made us a WFE all in Spanish for the raid, and Bran made us this cool image as a teaser: 

It ended up being a ton of fun and the beginning to my favorite military theme on NS! 
 
Punday Monday! - Listen, you guys, I am not in favor of puns, I'm honestly not, but thanks to Badger and Roavin have had to take on the title of Ocassional Punstress. Badger used to poke at me EVERY MONDAY to get my pun on with everyone on the RMB, and EVERY MONDAY I would grumble at him for it. But secretly, I gathered puns throughout the week and was always excited to post them and make all my friends groan! I don't think I ever ended up getting most likes for the best pun, but I'm pretty sure I came fairly close. 
 
Badgerbot - Idk how many of you know this, but when I first met Badger, I legitimately thought that he was a really, really well programmed chatbot. Something about his avatar, I don't know, seemed very botish to me! When I finally figured out that he was an actual person, I was really embarrassed, but had to tell him about it, and for the long day time after that I called him Badgerbot when I saw him! Eventually he created an actual BadgerBot to rule over TWP's Discord server and I was tickled pink! Now we have BadgerBot2.0 and it continues to be a weird, inside joke legacy that always makes me smile! 
 
Glitter Apprenticeship - Before I got really involved in TWPAF, I got really involved in TWP in the form of RMB shenanigans. This is where I met some of the old greats in TWP and learned to respect them! I was a wee noob, but I got friendly with BBD, YY, Medio, and a lot of the other Guardians at the time while I was there. I'm still upset that Medio didn't get unlocked until after I was done with TWPAF! I always wanted to raid with him. :c But my crowing achievement was one day convincing NeeNee to let me be her Glitter Apprentice. I spent like a week after that glittering everyone on the RMB and learning her ways. It was a great time.  
 
Bugging Forum Mods - I'm sorry to finally be admitting this, but I got... really into recruitment when I was running TWPAF and almost my entire motivation behind big numbers (besides pilers) was making tons and tons of posts in the mask request thread for the forum mods to have to do. :3 I just liked peeping in every day like "FIVE MORE MASKS FOR YOU, THANK YOU GUYS!" It was my own private little game. But every time I see someone join TWPAF now I get a little shot of glee that the mods will have to mask someone. xD Sorry. <3
 
Anyway, just sending out some love from me and Osiris! Hope everyone is doing well! What about you guys, do you have any really special memories with TWP that make you happy? What do y'all have going on! 

Activity in the forum has always been a major factor in NS, even back in the day - we had some sort of activity most of the post had replies at least once or twice per day, but still when you looked into the collective of posts activity was low, and it's not surprising... forums tend to be places of more analysis, looking for information and less about day 2 day or trivial conversation. Now with the availability of discord and other apps, makes more complicated to keep up.
I have an idea circling what to do with the forums, but still needs more analysis.

Once upon a time in a region somewhere in NS......we required all regional officials to post on the forum at least every other day (preferably daily). And an official was also expected to reply to every thread in his/her jurisdiction frequently. 
Activity begets Activity.
The interior official should be posting in interior threads, starting new threads, regularly. Same for Defense, Foreign Affairs, et al. There should be new material in every category frequently. There should never be a category that hasn't had activity in a month or more. Get rid of those categories if you're not using them.
In other words, streamline your customer's experience and provide them value.
Part of an official's duties is keeping up activity in their area of responsibility. And maintaining the pinned threads, make sure they are up to date and relevant.
When officials post regularly, it gives non-officials something of interest to read and maybe respond to. That creates activity. It's really simple.
If they cannot do that for a time (keep up this activity level), they should post an absence notice. If they fail to post in a certain time span (one week?), or fail to post a notice of absence, or fail to appoint a deputy in their absence, they need to be replaced quickly. Otherwise the gears of activity slow and stop, and the entire region suffers.
One official that's slowed down or inactive will encourage the same in other officials. It becomes a snowball of inactivity if it's not addressed.
Today you have Discord, and no one pays attention to the forums because of it. The work needed on the forum doesn't' get done.  (Key disclosure here though - I loath Discord, so I'm very biased. I'm a forum rat, not a chatroomer)
Some questions:
- Is not Customer Service part of your job as a regional official?
- Why should people come to the forum when they are constantly encouraged to go to Discord on the RMB?
- What value does it provide to your customers that they should sign up for yet another offsite venue?  Or should I say....
- Why should players, already being asked to go offsite from the game they joined, be expected to visit multiple offsite venues in order to participate in the game? Or rather said...
-  The more venues, the more you complicate your customer's experience. Doesn't this obviously drive away potential customers (potential active players)?
- Why do you, as a regional administration, require this of your 'citizens'? Join a forum, join Discord, sign an oath...and finally we accept you into the fold as a customer/player.
You're demanding too many hoops for your customers (players) to jump through in order to be recognized as 'one of us with the right to have a say'. The game doesn't require this. Player administrations do, and create stagnant oligarchies over the long term.
Like IRC, Discord is good for instant interaction, and is more accessible for that purpose than the RMB. Unlike IRC or the RMB, it provides you the ability to create multiple rooms/channels....like forum threads...to organize the conversation.  Unlike forums, it does not provide the ability to readily organize and provide easy access to information that hasn't just been posted.  Forums provide a better long term organizational and informational situation than Discord. Information can be pinned for presentation, turned into announcements, archived, reorganized, etc etc. Forums are like a book, it has chapters (catagories) sub-chapters (threads). Discord is like a student's notebook. Lots of scattered disorganized notes and information that only the OP can discern and know it's organization, but of much less use to others and newcomers. 
And yet, the forums aren't being used in their natural capacity.
I just noticed yesterday, there are many pinned informational threads here and there around the forum that remain from my Delegacy. Those should have been updated/replaced several Delegacies (years) ago.  This is slack housekeeping by successive administrations. I'm not even a TWP citizen (sidetrack: I loath NS citizenship oaths. I'm already in the region, I'm already participating, I'm already contributing....don't make me sign an oath to anything just for being here in order for the 'region' to acknowledge my contributions - it's simply bullshit to act as a gatekeeper to who gets to be part of the 'IN' crowd/oligarchy. End citizenship oaths! One does not need an oath to be held to the standards of the region. That's false reasoning.)
Okay.....I gotta run.....

I went through the entire Hall of Nations list and culled non-members.  Sent out reminders to others to post in the forum.

I have an TWP conundrum.  
I am not sure that the requirement to have people post at least once per month is an effective thing for the Hall of Nations.  But we have a beautiful forum and need more activity here.  What can we do to increase activity here?

Hail!